By now you'd be familiar with the modern proclivity of the busy humble brag. 

“How are you?” You say to a passing acquaintance. Their response: “Busy.” “Crazy busy!” “You know, juggling it all!” 

It's a boast dressed up as a complaint; because to admit being well-rested or, God forbid, not busy, would be social suicide in a culture that worships the hustle.

“Squeeze success from the very fabric of the cosmos by force,” Infamous sex-trafficker Andrew Tate instructs to his loyal Twitter followers. While in another corner of the internet, tech founders are bragging about a lack of sleep in pursuit of the grind. It's akin to the old adage, “you can sleep when you're dead.”

But, science has shown that if you don't get a good night's sleep (around seven to nine hours a night), you might in fact propel yourself into that very direction – there's an increased risk of illness and chronic disease, reduced energy and performance, as well as an increased burden on your mental health.

BUT BALANCE – ISN'T THAT A BIT BS? To add to the pressure-cooker of modern life on lack of sleep, we are not only meant to embrace this burden of productivity-based success, but to happily accept it too, because even the goal of balance has become unpopular.

“Balance is BS,” is the clarion call to working women with hectic jobs, multiple children, side-projects and large lives. You can have it all, apparently, so long as “it all” doesn't include downtime, spaces of nothingness or pauses of quiet solitude. Might I point out that balance isn't the evil here – but impossible expectation is?

So how did we get here?

Well, the promise of success goes something like this: To achieve what you want in life, you must push, work harder, faster and for much longer. It sounds a bit more robotic than human. But in truth, hustle culture has let us down, and here's how.

THE MYTHS OF HUSTLE CULTURE Hustle culture promises success for those who work the hardest, yet working to the point of exhaustion puts your health at risk which, of course, puts your business and your career at risk. 

Hustle culture promises happiness, yet high levels of stress have been proven  to contribute to allostatic load, which is the literal wear and tear of the body. This can impact fertility, digestion and gut health, the body's ability to heal, and can even lead to chronic illness. 

Hustle culture promises a fast-track to the top, yet studies show that prolonged periods of stress shrink grey matter in the brain (the area related to self-control), so you are more likely to lash out or fly off the handle. This is not the way to win friends and influence people, so I recommend you find another way. 

Hustle culture pins a badge of honour to busy-ness, but truthfully? Multi-tasking is not actually possible. It is distracting, lowers your IQ and makes you miss important information and make more mistakes. And what's more: people who take regular breaks are wildly more productive than people who push through. 

All the factors that are key to the success of your career or your performance as a good friend or family member – like good decision-making, creativity, clear vision, motivation, empathy for others, and your resilience in times of struggle – are compromised by burnout and overwhelm.

HOW TO ESCAPE HUSTLE CULTURE I believe that we need to revolutionise the ways we work and live. It's no longer acceptable to operate as though you don't have a physical body that needs nourishing, to work as though your mental health isn't important, to live as though your spirit doesn't matter.

It's not sustainable or effective, and it's not respectful of who you are as a whole and precious human being. You don't have to buy into it. 

Here's how to make your escape: 

Value quiet: Our nervous systems require times of stillness and pause. With the rush and pressure of modern life, it's easy to miss these and overload the system to the point of unsustainable stress. You must cultivate moments of no agenda, embrace the act of gazing out the window, stop to take a breath. 

Appreciate slow work: Our brains are incredibly capable of deep and insightful work. But not if we give in to distraction. Turn off the pings and dings of technology. Carve out 90 minutes of intense focus. Keep your intention on the one, most important thing in your work. And watch your potential come into its own. 

Let go of doing it all: The first step towards opting out of hustle culture is to recognise that you have a choice. When you choose the myth of having it all, you choose the reality that you will be chasing many things that will forever remain out of reach. If you choose instead, to let the redundant things fall away, you create space for what's most important to thrive.

Don't give up on the pursuit of balance: When you feel ashamed for wanting a balance between work, rest and play, you are buying into the toxic myth that rest and play are worthless. 

I get it! I get it! No one needs the burden of finding balance if it makes you feel even less like you are winning at life. But balance isn't the evil here – impossible expectation is.

Meaningful changes take time: It's not popular in this age of instant gratification, but some things just take time. If your business, relationship, health, or your life isn't quite how you imagined it – don't quash the discomfort by getting busier.

Get quiet. Keep going. Stay consistent. Meaningful change takes time.

See more from Johanna by checking out her website, Make Do Co. & @jo_makedoco
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